Central cross country teams place second in home meet

Women's cross country | Sept. 7, 2013

PELLA — The Central College men’s and women’s cross country teams jumped to a quick start at the Central Dutch Invitational Saturday morning, with the men led by first-place finisher Austin O’Brien (senior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) in the first meet of the season.

In a four-team field for the women and a seven-team field for the men, both teams placed second. The Central men placed three in the top five and seven runners finished in the top 30 in a field of 97, scoring 40 points. Among the seven teams were regionally-ranked No. 4 Loras College and No. 10 Carleton College (Minn.). Carleton took the top spot with 36 points and Loras finished third with 50 points.

O’Brien takes first—O’Brien led the pack with a finishing time of 26 minutes, 19 seconds on the 8,000-meter course. Cole Decker (sophomore, Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) placed third (26:41) and Drew Jackson (junior, Johnston) rounded out the top five crossing the finish line with a time of 27 minutes, two seconds.

“I am very proud of our men,” said head coach Joe Dunham. “They competed hard, and we didn’t run our full squad. It was nice to see the guys that were running step up when they were needed. It was a good meet to see where we are as a team, but we still have room to improve.”

Eaves leads women— Alyssa Eaves (junior, Johnston) finished sixth in a field of 61 on the 6,000-meter course with a time of 25 minutes, 36 seconds, helping the Dutch score 54 points. Loras College took first with 22 points.

“It was a great first meet for the women,” said Dunham. “They ran together in a pack like we have been working on. We learned a lot about our fitness level this meet, but overall, it was a good start to the season.”

The men and women have two weeks off before running their next race in Northfield, Minn. at the St. Olaf Invitational on Sept. 21. The women are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and the men at 10:45 a.m.